Friday, August 01, 2008

SLEEPWALKING

Have you ever woken up in the morning, feeling like you did something last night but you just don't remember what it was? Or worse, wake up in a place not where you went to sleep the night before? I'm talking about sleepwalking.

As far as I know, I don't sleepwalk. Well, so far no one has told me that I do, so oklah tu. Some friends have related their sleepwalking antics, some are funny, but some are pretty dangerous.

Lina once woke up with a toothbrush in her hand, and a slightly foamy mouth. Apparently during the night, she had gone to the bathroom, put toothpaste on her toothbrush and started to brush her teeth. But she didn't rinse her mouth before falling back to sleep, urgh!

At her school hostel once, Mai took her pillow and blanket and went to sit on the stairs outside her hostel. Luckily one of her roomates saw her empty bed and went looking for her, and guided her back to bed. She went to a 'sekolah agama', so it would've been havoc if some boys were to have found her first, in her caftan and with tusled hair, hugging her pillow on the stairs!

Faz once went to bed in a t-shirt and kain pelikat, then woke up naked and freezing in the middle of the night! Luckily he was in a room by himself. I really dunno what to think about this guy though, haha!

Why do people sleepwalk? No specific reason, but I think one of the triggers is stress or anxiety. Usually the sleepwalker does normal everyday things, but unconsciously. These normal things can turn deadly though. For example, Mai is worried because a couple of months back, she had tried to open her apartment's main door in her sleep. Had she succeeded, who knows what could've happened, as her apartment is on the 14th floor!

Well, if I ever sleepwalk, I hope I jump straight onto the treadmill, which is right now just gathering dust in my bedroom. At least I'll get some exercise hehe :-)

I somehow missed this entry when it was posted. Anyhow, somnambulism (from the word somn = sleep; ambulate = walk), is scary.

When I was staying with a foster family in the UK, the youngest son (about 11 at that time) somnambulated. He got up from bed at 2 am (I was still up studying), got dressed up in his school uniform, switched off the alarm (which is on everynight before we went to bed), took the house keys and was about to unlock the door (presumable going to school).

Fortunately, my room was next to the door. I got out from my room, and asked him what he was doing. He said nothing, put down the keys, walked back to his room and slept in his school uniform.

He was surprised to find himself already dressed up for school when he woke up in the morning. He didn't remember a thing about the incident.